Connecticut requires hospitals to inform patients of observation status

Beginning today, Connecticut hospitals must tell patients when they are in observation and not actually admitted--and inform them that they may be responsible for charges incurred during their stay, according to the Greenwich Times.com. In order to qualify for Medicare reimbursement under inpatient rates, the federal government's two-midnight rule requires that physicians deem the patient's condition serious enough to require at least two overnight stays. Patients who aren't formally admitted may remain under outpatient or observation status--which may leave patients with high out-of-pocket expenses. "They are in a regular hospital bed in a hospital room, getting a hospital level of care and they have no way of knowing they were not admitted,"  Rep. Susan Johnson, D-Windham, a sponsor of the legislation and co-chairwoman of the General Assembly's Public Health Committee, told the publication. Article